Traces of life on nearest exoplanets may be hidden in equatorial trap
http://www.ras.org.uk/.../3074-traces-of-life-on-nearest-exoplanets-may-be-hidden-in-equatorial-trap

New simulations show that the search for life on other planets may well be more difficult than previously assumed, in research published today in the journal
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The study indicates that unusual air flow patterns could hide atmospheric components from telescopic
observations, with direct consequences for formulating the optimal strategy for searching for (oxygen-producing) life such as bacteria or plants on exoplanets.

Current hopes of detecting life on planets outside of our own Solar System rest on examining the planet’s atmosphere to identify chemical compounds that may be
produced by living beings. Ozone – a variety of oxygen – is one such molecule, and is seen as one of the possible tracers that may allow us to detect life on
another planet from afar.

In Earth's atmosphere, this compound forms the ozone layer that protects us from the Sun's harmful UV radiation. On an alien planet, ozone could be one piece
in the puzzle that indicates the presence of oxygen-producing bacteria or plants.

But now researchers, led by Ludmila Carone of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany, have found that these tracers might be better hidden than we
previously thought. Carone and her team considered some of the nearest exoplanets that have the potential to be Earth-like: Proxima b, which is orbiting the star
nearest to the Sun (Proxima Centauri), and the most promising of the TRAPPIST-1 family of planets, TRAPPIST-1d.

These are examples of planets that orbit their host star in 25 days or fewer, and as a side effect have one side permanently facing their star, and the other side
permanently facing away. Modelling the flow of air within the atmospheres of these planets, Carone and her colleagues found that this unusual day-night divide can
have a marked effect on the distribution of ozone across the atmosphere: at least for these planets, the major air flow may lead from the poles to the equator,
systematically trapping the ozone in the equatorial region.

News | NASA Builds its Next Mars Rover Mission
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7011

At a glance, it looks a lot like its predecessor, the Curiosity Mars rover. But there's no doubt it's a souped-up science machine:
It has seven new instruments, redesigned wheels and more autonomy. A drill will capture rock cores, while a caching system with a miniature
robotic arm will seal up these samples. Then, they'll be deposited on the Martian surface for possible pickup by a future mission.

This new hardware is being developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, which manages the mission for the agency.
It includes the Mars 2020 mission's cruise stage, which will fly the rover through space, and the descent stage, a rocket-powered "sky crane"
that will lower it to the planet's surface. Both of these stages have recently moved into JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility.

NASA Begins Building Next Mars Rover Mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s595S1Vf3PE

Astronomers create most detailed radio image of nearby dwarf galaxy - ANU
http://www.anu.edu.au/...ll-news/astronomers-create-most-detailed-radio-image-of-nearby-dwarf-galaxy

Astronomers at ANU have created the most detailed radio image of nearby dwarf galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud,
revealing secrets of how it formed and how it is likely to evolve.

This image was taken by CSIRO's powerful new radio telescope, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
(ASKAP), and its innovative radio camera technology, known as phased array feeds.

ALMA Discovers Infant Stars Surprisingly Near Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole - National Radio Astronomy Observatory
https://public.nrao.edu/news/2017-alma-lmstars/

Earliest phase of star formation ever observed in highly hostile environment

At the center of our galaxy, in the immediate vicinity of its supermassive black hole, is a region wracked by powerful tidal forces
and bathed in intense ultraviolet light and X-ray radiation. These harsh conditions, astronomers surmise, do not favor star formation,
especially low-mass stars like our sun. Surprisingly, new observations from ALMA suggest otherwise.

ALMA has revealed the telltale signs of eleven low-mass stars forming perilously close — within three light-years — to the Milky Way’s
supermassive black hole, known to astronomers as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). At this distance, tidal forces driven by the supermassive
black hole should be energetic enough to rip apart clouds of dust and gas before they can form stars.

The presence of these newly discovered protostars (the formative stage between a dense cloud of gas and a young, shining star) suggests
that the conditions necessary to birth low-mass stars may exist even in one of the most turbulent regions of our galaxy and possibly in
similar locales throughout the universe.

Jen si tu odložím drobnou pozvánku...
Jak se žije na Marsu – BIO|OKO – nejlepší kino na Praze 7
http://www.biooko.net/cz/film/9346/Jak-se-zije-na-Marsu/

JAKKILLER: az v periheliu prece :)

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-telescope-studies-quirky-comet-45p

When comet 45P zipped past Earth early in 2017, researchers observing from NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility, or IRTF,
in Hawai’i gave the long-time trekker a thorough astronomical checkup. The results help fill in crucial details about ices
in Jupiter-family comets and reveal that quirky 45P doesn’t quite match any comet studied so far.

Like a doctor recording vital signs, the team measured the levels of nine gases released from the icy nucleus into the comet’s
thin atmosphere, or coma. Several of these gases supply building blocks for amino acids, sugars and other biologically relevant
molecules. Of particular interest were carbon monoxide and methane, which are so hard to detect in Jupiter-family comets that
they’ve only been studied a few times before.

Astronomers Reveal Nearby Stars That Are Among The Oldest In Our Galaxy - News Hub -
http://news.gsu.edu/2017/11/19/astronomers-reveal-nearby-stars-among-oldest-galaxy/

Astronomers have discovered some of the oldest stars in our Milky Way galaxy by determining their locations and velocities, according to a study led by scientists at
Georgia State University. This study focused on old or “senior citizen” stars, also known as cool subdwarfs, that are much older and cooler in temperature than the sun.

In this study, published in the November 2017 edition of The Astronomical Journal, astronomers conducted a census of our solar neighborhood to identify how many young,
adult and old stars are present. They targeted stars out to a distance of 200 light years, which is relatively nearby considering the galaxy is more than 100,000 light
years across. A light year is how far light can travel in one year. This is farther than the traditional horizon for the region of space that is referred to as “the
solar neighborhood,” which is about 80 light years in radius.

BROUKOID: uz zpomaluje?

VIRGO: ok... nejdriv sem to nechtel postovat, ale ted uz mi to neda - bud je to hodne sofistikovanej prank, nebo je to fakt uzasna nahoda :)

https://www.nasa.gov/...ard/2017/nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope-completes-final-cryogenic-testing

The vault-like, 40-foot diameter, 40-ton door of Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston was unsealed on November 18,
signaling the end of cryogenic testing for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

“After 15 years of planning, chamber refurbishment, hundreds of hours of risk-reduction testing, the dedication of more than 100
individuals through more than 90 days of testing, and surviving Hurricane Harvey, the OTIS cryogenic test has been an outstanding
success,” said Bill Ochs, project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland. “The completion of the test is one of the most significant steps in the march to launching Webb.”

These tests included an important alignment check of Webb’s 18 primary mirror segments, to make sure all of the gold-plated,
hexagonal segments acted like a single, monolithic mirror.

Breakthrough Prize Foundation studying privately-funded Enceladus mission - SpaceNews.com
http://spacenews.com/breakthrough-prize-foundation-studying-privately-funded-enceladus-mission/

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation, the organization funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, is examining the feasibility of a private mission to a moon of Saturn.

The effort, still in its early study phases, could eventually lead to a mission to the moon Enceladus. That icy moon likely has an ocean of liquid water underneath
its surface, based in part on plumes emanating from its surface as seen by NASA’s Cassini mission. That has raised its prospects as a potentially habitable world.

Milner first revealed his foundation was considering such a mission during an on-stage interview at a conference in Seattle Nov. 9 organized by The Economist magazine.
“We formed a little workshop around this idea,” he said. “Can we design a low-cost privately-funded mission to Enceladus, which can be launched relatively soon and
that can look more thoroughly at those plumes to try to see what’s going on there?”

Woow!

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/solar-system-s-first-interstellar-visitor-dazzles-scientists

new data reveal the interstellar interloper to be a rocky, cigar-shaped object with a somewhat reddish hue.
The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua by its discoverers, is up to one-quarter mile (400 meters) long and highly-
elongated—perhaps 10 times as long as it is wide. That aspect ratio is greater than that of any asteroid or
comet observed in our solar system to date. While its elongated shape is quite surprising, and unlike
asteroids seen in our solar system, it may provide new clues into how other solar systems formed.